Resources

By Jade, Sam, Laura, & Kaitlin

This is a list composed of films, TV shows, podcasts, social media accounts, and articles to help everyone become educated on the topics surrounding race. In compiling this list of resources we hope everyone takes the time to educate and further understand how to become a better ally.

Films

When They See Us – account of the Central Park Five, now known as the Exonerated Five
The 13th – the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration
Just Mercy – the story of a black man on death row for a crime he did not commit
Say Her Name: The Life & Death of Sandra Bland – about Sandra Bland, who was found hanged in a jail cell in 2015
Selma – depiction of Dr. King’s march from Selma to Montgomery, which led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965
The House I Live In – the impact of the War on Drugs on prisoners, prison guard, and the United States as a whole
If Beale Street Could Talk – depicts the unlawful justice system and racial injustice faced by a black couple in the 1960s
I Am Not Your Negro – documentary about the life and work of James Baldwin
Fruitvale Station – based on a true story, recounts the death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer
Maya Angelou: Still I Rise – the story of the iconic writer, poet, actress, and activist, Maya Angelou
The Hate U Give – follows a teenage girl facing code-switching and police brutality
Do the Right Thing – quintessential movie about police brutality
Moonlight – highlights the grief and trauma facing black men, particularly through an LGBTQ lens
Dead Presidents – about black soldiers in Vietnam and the struggles they faced returning home
Loving – about the real-life couple Richard and Mildred Loving, who was at the center of the Supreme Court case that took down the ban on interracial marriage
BlacKKKlansman – set in the 1970s, it follows the first Black detective in Colorado Springs police department as he sets out to infiltrate and expose the local Ku Klux Klan chapter
The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross – series chronicling the full sweep of African American history, from the origins of slavery on the African continent up to the present day
Freedom Riders – the story of American civil rights activists’ peaceful fights against segregation on buses and trains in the 1960s
Eyes on the Prize – 14-party documentary about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States
Dark Girls – explores a deep-seated bias within black culture against women with darker skin
Time: The Kalief Browder Story – series tracing the case of Kalief Browder, a Black Bronx teen who spent three years in jail, despite not being convicted of a crime

TV Shows

Watchmen – generational repercussions of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Black-ish – straightforward series about race following an upper-middle-class black family living in a predominantly white neighborhood
The Wire – addresses structural racism and the impact of the educational system
Insecure – young black professionals living in Los Angeles navigating friendships, relationships, and microaggressions in the workplace
Dear White People – follows a group of Black students at an elite Ivy League university where they are the minority

Books:

Anti-racism

How to Be an Anti-Racist – Ibram X. Kendi
Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice – Paul Kivel
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism – Robin DiAngelo
Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You – Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
Antagonists, Advocates, and Allies: The Wake Up Call Guide for White Women Who Want to Become Allies with Black Women – Catrice M. Jackson
White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White – Daniel Hill
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America – Michael Eric Dyson
America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America – Jim Wallis
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor – Layla F. Saad

AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR

The Fire Next Time – James Baldwin
Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates
Heavy – Kiese Laymon
Black Like Me – John Howard Griffin

MASS INCARCERATION & CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Are Prisons Obsolete? – Angela Y. Davis

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness – Michelle Alexander

Just Mercy – Bryan Stevenson

RACE IN AMERICA

So You Want to Talk About Race – Ijeoma Oluo

The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? – Beverly Daniel Tatum

Under Our Skin: Getting Real About Race, Getting Free from the Fears and Frustrations that Divide Us – Benjamin Watson

Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do – Claude Steele

Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Dialogues on Race – Derald Wing Sue

Dark Days – James Baldwin

Podcasts

Code Switch – race & identity
Yo, Is This Racist? – questions from listeners about whether or not something is racist
About Race – how to get involved in anti-racism activism
Come Through – 15 pivotal conversations about race in 2020
The Nod – stories about black life & culture
Counter Stories – effects of implicit bias and institutional racism on women of color’s reproductive health
Speaking of Racism – frank conversations about anti-racism
Still Processing – how everything from books to arts to movies intersects with race in America
The United States of Anxiety – race post-Civil War Seeing White
Seeing White – history of whiteness in America
America Identity Politics – discussions about race, gender, culture, and faith
The Stoop – mix of conversations and reported stories, especially under-discussed black experiences